Effect of Some Food Intake on Erosive Beverage Action on Dental Enamel and Cement

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of some foods consumed previous to an erosive beverage on dental enamel and cement. The study was performed on 40 human teeth unaffected, extracted for orthodontic braces. The teeth were cut to obtain 80 cervical slices including enamel and dentine/cement areas. The slices were randomly divided in four groups. The 20 samples of control group (group 1) were submitted in 72 hours to nine demineralisation cycles (3 cycles/24 hours) by immersion in Pepsi-Cola ® for 5 min (32 mL/ sample). The samples from other three groups were immersed in cheese extract (group 2), broccoli extract (group 3) and undilluted cow milk (group 4) for 5 min (32 mL/sample) previous to Pepsi-Cola ® immersion. For each group, microhardness was measured using digital device CV 400 DAT on 10 samples and surface roughness was determined on another 10 samples by profilometric method using profilometer Taylor HobsonSurtronic 25. For each sample mean value of Vicker hardness (VH) and mean value of roughness (Ra) were calculated as a result of 5 determinations. In enamel/cement areas the mean value Ra recorded for group 1 was 3,83/3,5 times higher than mean value Ra in study group 4, 2,99/2,95 times higher than mean value Ra in study group 3 and 2,81/3,04 times higher than mean value Ra in study group 2. The mean values of VH of enamel/cement before and after immersion in the tested food varied from 389/68 VH to 235/34 VH in group 4, from 367/64 VH to 354/58 VH in group1, from 382/69 VH to 371/61 VH in group 2 and from 393/63 VH to 381/57 VH for group 3. The consumption of foods like milk, cheese and broccoli before the ingestion of erosive beverages can significantly reduce the erosion of dental enamel and cement.